


Commander Cold

by Thundersnow (pieprincess_andthe_fallenangel)



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, BAMF Leonard Snart, Canon Compliant, ColdFlash Week, ColdFlash Week 2016, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff not Fear, Humour, Kid Fic, Leonard Snart Lives, Leonard Snart died, Leonard Snart is Team Flash, Leonard Snart isn't a criminal, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post legends of tomorrow, Post-Flashpoint (DCU), Series Spoilers, Sexual Tension, Time Travel, because Cait either managed to gain control or her powers were taken from her, but they've already broken up, commander cold - Freeform, dad Barry Allen, dad Leonard Snart, domestic life, mentions of Barry Allen/Iris West - Freeform, no killer frost storyline, not anymore anyway, your choice on which
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 17:29:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8809660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pieprincess_andthe_fallenangel/pseuds/Thundersnow
Summary: Cisco was sitting in front of the computers with his back to Len, as usual, as Barry hovered around in front of the engineer. Except, right now Barry currently had dark blond hair and was dressed in a blue parka with a version of the cold gun attached to his thigh. The younger man looked over at Len in the doorway and his big eyes went wide."Are you mocking me, Barry?" Len drawled, raising an eyebrow in question and trying not to laugh at the image of the Flash dressed as a supervillain.-The team are surprised to find a time traveller from the future that shares a striking resemblance to one Barry Allen. But… if he is the Flash’s son… then why is he wearing Captain Cold’s gear?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Day 7: Domestic Life.
> 
> I was playing a bit fast and loose with the theme for today. There are domestic scenes in this fic! But they are right at the very end of it. Sorry. Hopefully you'll enjoy this anyway :) also, I smudged Len's age a little bit. Canonically, he seems to be about 19 years older than Barry but in this fic he's more like 11/12 years older: so at the beginning, he's in his late-30's instead of mid-40's.
> 
> This fic is based on something I read a few months ago. I haven't actually had the chance to read the comics with Commander Cold in, but I read that his face is revealed in them only once and that he has a striking resemblance to Barry Allen (so everyone assumes he's related to Barry but it's never been confirmed). I know that in the comics he's supposed to be from 400+ years into the future, but I changed that to only 24 years.
> 
> One last thing: I'm pretty sure that the cold gun got blown up with Len during the season 1 finale of Legends, but just assume that Len got bored and rebuilt it once he was revived. Okay, that should be everything :) enjoy.

Barry was _not_ having a good day. It felt like Singh was breathing down the back of his neck all day long at work because he was behind on paperwork. And then he spent the afternoon with Iris. Normally that would have been fun but, after they had tried dating and ultimately broken up a few months ago, they were still trying to shift their relationship back into being friends… meaning that this meal had probably been the most awkward two hours of Barry's life. And that was saying something coming from a guy who had no brain-to-mouth filter and was constantly putting his foot in it.

Now Barry just wanted to lie down and relax, maybe got to bed early for once… But he'd barely made it into his bedroom when he got a phone call from Cisco: apparently Leonard Snart was back in Central and he was creating trouble. Barry sighed. Just one day off, that's all he was asking for!

Barry quickly got dressed into his Flash suit and ran over to the location that Cisco'd provided him with. When he got onto the street he instantly saw the ice covering the nearby trees, grass, and buildings – thankfully the rest of the street was empty of pedestrians and commuters. Leonard hadn't noticed his presence yet, which was… actually not like him at all. Barry was just thankful for the extra moment to get his bearings.

"Snart!" He called out and the man, who had been pacing up and down the road with his cold gun in his hand, paused and slowly turned to face Barry. Snart's hood was up over his head and his goggles were fixed securely on his face, obscuring it, but something looked… different about him. Barry couldn't quite tell how, though, because he was too far away. "What are you doing?" Barry demanded because, other than slight property damage, Snart didn't appear to be committing a crime… yet.

"Getting your attention, _Flash_ ," Snart replied swiftly and Barry frowned. Something sounded off about his voice but Barry couldn't quite put his finger on it. And Snart had called him Flash, too. He never did that when they were alone. Did that mean that there were more Rogues hanging around that Barry should be aware of?

Before Barry could really process any of this, Snart was aiming his cold gun at him and firing. Barry, taken by surprise, barely managed to get out of the way.

"Whoa! We have a deal, Snart! What are you doing?" Barry shouted as he took cover behind a wall. This wasn't like Cold… not anymore, anyway… he always played the character of the villain when the occasion called for it but he never went out of his way to draw Barry to a scene and attack him! Something wasn't right here.

"I'm not Leonard Snart!" The man called out and Barry nodded to himself, having already come to that conclusion. "And you are _not_ a superhero! You're a murderer." The man dressed as Cold fired the gun again as Barry ran and the blast just caught his waist. Barry fell to the floor momentarily and scrambled to his feet, running again and just managing to dodge another blast.

"Barry? Are you okay?" Caitlin's voice asked through the comms.

"I got hit but I'm fine," Barry grunted as he came to a stop, taking cover behind a nearby car. "Guys, that's not Snart," he told his friends.

"Yeah, we heard," Cisco muttered into the comms. "And what was that about you being a murderer? Who does this guy think you've killed?"

"Come out and fight, Flash!" Cold shouted and Barry could hear him approaching the car. Barry made another run for it as he tried to come up with a plan. He hadn't _actually_ had to fight or defend himself against Leonard Snart in a long time, and so coming up with a way to knock out this wanna-be without getting hit by the cold gun was becoming an issue.

"And how the hell did he get a hold of the cold gun?" Cisco continued to grumble. "Is it the same one? Does it look the same?"

"Not the time, Cisco," Barry complained as he had to run and dodge another cold blast. But then his foot landed on ice and he lost traction, skidding and falling over. As Barry struggled to regain his balance he got hit straight-on by another blast from the gun and it sent him flying. He realised suddenly, that he was back up to the entrance of a dead-end alleyway. This guy had been herding him here the entire time!

He was weakened and slower now due to the gun's effects. Barry knew that he wouldn't be fast enough to run past the villain and he also wasn't fast enough to scale the building to safety. Luckily, the man in front of him didn't fire the cold gun again. Instead, to Barry's surprise, he produced a police badge.

"My name is Commander Cold, I'm a member of the Renegades police taskforce from the year 2040, and you're under arrest for murder of Mirror Monarch." Barry stared up at _Commander_ Cold and just blinked.

This… was insane. Okay, yeah, sure time travel was possible. But someone from the future coming to arrest him? That had to be some sort of joke. Barry shifted and was about to try standing up when Commander Cold aimed the gun at him again, the words 'don't try it' being left unsaid but the point was gotten across fairly well.

"Precinct one," Cold said after pressing something near his ear, obviously a comms unit. "I have the suspect in custody. Preparing for time ju-" before Cold could finish his sentence there was a sudden loud screeching coming from Cold's comms and the man fell to the floor screaming. Barry looked over him and saw Hartley Rathaway, dressed in his usual black hoodie to obscure his face, aiming his sonic gloves at Cold.

Barry had managed to regained some of his strength by this point. He'd scrambled to his feet by the time that Cold had pulled back his hood, to exposed his short blond hair, and pulled the comms out of his ear. Disorientated from the sonic blast, Cold was slow to process what was happening and so Barry was able to knock him unconscious.

"Thanks for the assist, Hart," Barry breathed out and Hartley smiled.

"No problem. Just glad that I was in the area when Cisco called," Hartley declared and powered down his gauntlets as he drew closer to Barry. He looked warily off to the side and Barry noticed that some civilians had gathered, two of them filming the interaction of their phone. "Do you think I can get a lift back home?" Hart asked and Barry quickly scooped him and Commander Cold up before running away.

He dropped Hart off at his apartment, with one last thank you, and then deposited Cold in the cells at STAR Labs. They didn't often use the cells anymore, but Barry figured that this was a special case… what with the prisoner claiming to be from the future…

"So that was… interesting," Caitlin muttered when Barry got back into the cortex.

"Did you hear him say…" Barry started and Cisco finished for him.

"That he was from the future? Yep. We caught that." All three of them looked over at the video footage of the man sleeping in their cells. "So, what are we going to do?" Cisco asked and Barry just shrugged.

"I don't know… wait for him to wake up and see why he thinks I killed someone? And, in the meantime, maybe you could look at these?" Barry asked, lifting up the cold gun and the comms unit that he had removed from Cold.

"Good plan," Cisco said as he took both objects and studied them. He started with the cold gun and was instantly frowning. "This is… weird," he declared. "It's almost identical to the one I made. But it's smaller and feels a bit lighter, too." Barry let Cisco work without asking, too many, questions. "And there are more settings," he hummed. "I wonder what this does…"

"Don't press it!" Both Barry and Caitlin shouted at the same time and Cisco jumped, moving his finger away from the switch he'd been pointing at.

"I wasn't going to," he defended himself.

It didn't take much longer for Commander Cold to wake up and so the three of them all went down to the cells together to question him, Cisco abandoning his work on the comms for the time being. Cold was standing with his arms crossed and his mouth set in a firm line when Barry and his friends arrived; he stood up a little straighter as they walked closer, as though he was surprised to see them. Now that the hood of the parka was lowered, Barry could see that this man was obviously not Leonard Snart: he was definitely younger, his lips and facial shape completely different, oh and then there was the blond hair too.

Still… the man _did_ look familiar. Barry couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, though… maybe it was just the fact he was still wearing Captain Cold's gear. Though, now Barry could see it properly, the outfit wasn't _exactly_ the same. Just like the cold gun, there were slight differences. Like how the goggles he wore seemed to be more reflective than Snart's… almost to the point that they began to look mirrored on one side. And the parka was definitely a brighter shade of blue.

"You can keep me locked up in here all you want, Flash," Cold stated. "But it doesn't change the fact that you're going to pay for what you did. If I can't get the job done, then they'll just send more members of my team."

"Look, I don't know who you are, but I didn't kill Mirror Master. I didn't even know he was dead," Barry defended himself.

"Mirror _Monarch_."

"Okay, well, I didn't kill him either." Cold, looking like he was getting frustrated, pushed the goggled down to his neck.

"Her. And don't lie to me. I know it was you!" Cold shouted and all three members of Team Flash just stared back at him silently, their eyes wide, because… well, because Commander Cold was the spitting image of Barry. Cold frowned at their silence and jaw-slacked faces and then Cisco shook his head.

"Can you excuse us for just a minute?" Cisco said in a high pitched voice, so high it was nearly a squeak, and dragged Cait and Barry away. Using the keypad, Caitlin quickly closed the door behind them and they all just stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

"So, he's, er… got a familiar face," Caitlin muttered and Cisco nodded.

" _Eerily_ familiar."

"He's not _that_ similar," Barry muttered and Cisco shook his head violently.

"No. You see yourself from a different angle than we do, Bear. Trust us. He's the spitting image of you," Cisco insisted and Barry chewed on that for a moment before responding.

"Do you think it's a coincidence?" Barry asked. "I mean, everyone is likely to have an unrelated doppelganger somewhere in time, right?"

"It's… possible," Caitlin muttered but didn't look convinced.

"But?"

"But… he looks about twenty. And he said that he's from twenty-four years into the future… and so, maybe, it's more likely, that he's… your son?" Caitlin answered and Barry laughed. His son coming back in time to arrest him? That sounded even more ridiculous than the doppelganger theory. Barry looked to Cisco to back him up, but his friend avoided his gaze and so Barry eventually sobered up.

"You think he's my son?" Barry muttered. "That's… not possible. I mean, I'm the Flash. Surely he would _know_ I'm the Flash! What reason would I have not to tell my own son that?"

"Barry… I don't know. But, I'm just saying, it's the likely answer." The three of them just looked at each other for a little while longer and composed themselves before reopening the door and stepping back towards the cells.

"Why do you think the Flash killed your friend?" Cisco asked Cold, his voice was still a little bit high-pitched but mostly back to normal again now. Cold just glared at them and Cisco sighed. "Look, _we_ know that Flash didn't kill Mirror… Monarch. So we just want to prove it."

Cold didn't say anything for a few seconds as he looked between their faces.

"The comms monitor your health," he eventually replied, seemingly becoming unsure about his conviction of the Flash. "When our health is in jeopardy they switch on automatically and broadcast to the precinct and the rest of the team. The last thing Mirror Monarch said was _your_ name," Cold bit out, back to glaring pointedly at Barry.

" _That_ doesn't prove anything," Cisco declared defensively, and the glare was turned to Cisco instead. "Look, if we're going to investigate this then we're going to need more details. Some sort of physical description of her. What day it happened and where. That kind of thing."

"Tall. About 5 foot 10. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Last Monday at 2:45pm. The alleyway off of Hancock Avenue," Cold said, a little stiffly as though he wasn't sure whether to trust them or not, and Cisco nodded along.

"Wait," Caitlin interrupted. " _Last_ Monday? The 13th?" She asked and Cold hummed his confirmation. "We were in Star City then. Flash wasn't even here; he _couldn't_ have done it!"

"Are you suggesting that the Flash isn't fast enough to run from Star to Central without anyone realising?" Cold muttered and Cait looked a little forlorn at that but she shook her head.

"Why would he, though? Come all of the way back here to just kill some future version of Mirror Master and then leave again? It doesn't make sense. Does he even have any motive?"

"I'm not sure yet," Cold admitted and Cisco scoffed.

"Well who _does_ have motive? Barry asked before Cisco could say something snarky. "Why was she here?"

"I'm not sure. One of our teammates went missing a few weeks ago. She was looking into his disappearance."

"There!" Cisco exclaimed. "If Monarch found out who took your other teammate, then maybe they killed her to keep her silent."

"Then why did she say the Flash's name when she died?" Cold pointed out and none of Team Flash had a good theory for that one. They all exchanged a glance before Cait finally spoke up.

"We don't know. But there has to be another explanation for this. We're the good guys. Just… give us a chance to prove it?" She said with a soft voice and, after a very long pause, Cold nodded. Cisco looked to both Cait and Barry for approval before he tapped in the code that opened Cold's cell. The man warily took a step outside.

"Do you have a plan for how you're going to 'prove it'?" Cold questioned and Cisco stepped forward.

"Actually, yes." He turned to Barry. "Do you think Felicity will hack into the satellites for us?" He asked and Barry shrugged.

"I don't see why not," he said and so Cisco rang her to explain the situation, the short version of it, and request her help as the four of them made their way back to the cortex. Within moments they had access to high-def satellite footage of the alleyway in question. All of them watched as the woman, that Cold pointed out to be Mirror Monarch, was chased down the alley by a man in a hoodie, his face not visible.

She fell over and both Caitlin and Cisco averted their eyes from the screen as the man produced a knife. Barry could feel the tension and anger emanating off of Cold beside him and Barry just hoped that the man on screen would turn _just a little_ so that they could see his face. The seconds ticked on and then, _finally_ , the man turned. Barry paused the screen and zoomed in on his face as Cold took a large step back. His eyes, which Barry only just noticed were a vibrant blue instead of Barry's green, were wide and shocked.

"You know who this is?" Cait asked.

"The Top," Cold admitted slowly. "He's my teammate. The one that disappeared a month ago."

"Okay. I have a question," Cisco declared, after a short pause, and swivelled his chair around so that he was facing Cold. "Why are all of you guys styled after current day supervillains?" Barry and Cait, who had also been wondering the exact same thing, turned from the monitor back to looking at Cold too.

"We were originally formed to fight the Reverse Flash," Cold admitted. "And so we took inspiration from the Rogues who were most well-equipped to fight the Flash."

"Okay…" Team Flash took that in for a moment and Barry suddenly had a million and one questions that he wanted to ask but knew that he couldn't for the sake of the timeline. "One last thing: now you know we had nothing to do with this, do we get to know your name or…?" Cisco asked and Cold chewed that over for a minute before nodding.

"Michael Allen."

"Oh, _really_?" Cisco muttered with fake naivety and Barry might have smacked him over the head if his heart wasn't currently trying to break out of his chest. "Any relation to _Barry_ Allen?"

"Yes," Cold said, though didn't appear to want to elaborate further. Barry swallowed thickly and excused himself. So Commander Cold… _Michael_ , really was Barry's son. That was… difficult to process. And based on Michael's fair skin it was reasonable to guess that Iris _wasn't_ his mother. Barry was a little disheartened by that. At one point, he'd thought that he was in love with Iris… Barry wasn't so sure anymore if that had ever been true or if he was just in love with the idea of being with her. They'd tried dating for a little while a few months ago but they had both mutually agreed that it wasn't right for them and so they'd broken up.

Still, Barry had never really given up thinking that they might one day end up together: they weren't right for each other right now… but maybe they would be right for each other in the future. To find out that that likely wasn't true was… _something_. Not heart shattering, but not exactly a relief either. At least now he knew that he could move on

"So… how do we find the Top?" Barry asked when he'd finally regained enough of his control to return back to the cortex.

[] [] []

Len was making himself some breakfast when Lisa barged into his apartment.

"Nice of you to stop by unannounced… again," he drawled, not turning around until she smacked his shoulder in annoyance. "What was that for?"

"You couldn't have called me and let me know that you'd broken free?" Lisa muttered. "I've been waiting around the precinct all night for him to hand you over!"

"Broke free from who?" Len asked, lowering the heat of the stove so that he could give his sister his full attention.

"Are you being serious?" Lisa scoffed, she placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "From the Flash!"

"Lisa, I don't know where you're getting this information from… but I haven't faced the Flash since I came back from the Waverider." It was true… he'd been back for several months now but his recent death and rebirth had changed him and now Len just wasn't as interested in causing havoc anymore. He was a little bit bored though, sure, but the thought of planning a heist just didn't appeal to him in the same way that it used to. Len had never really thought about what kind of regrets he'd have on his death bed, but he was surprised to find that the biggest one he'd experienced while waiting for the Oculus to blow was never having a family.

He'd always wanted kids, always wanted to prove wrong all those people who'd insinuated that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. He was nothing like his father and he wanted a chance to show that. Except… he'd let that dream take a back seat in his life. He'd liked the idea of having kids but it wasn't exactly possible when he was a wanted criminal who wouldn't even allow himself to be in a real relationship with anyone for more than a few months. Len didn't want to have these same kind of regrets the next time around: he had a second chance, and so now he wanted a different type of life.

He hadn't _quite_ gotten around to explaining that to Lisa yet, though. She was frowning at Len now as though she didn't believe him. She grabbed the phone from her pocket and tapped away at it quickly before showing him a video. Len took the mobile with a sigh and frowned when he saw that it was of him and the Flash fighting. Except… Len was sure that this had never happened. He watched the Not-Captain-Cold back the Flash up into a corner and Len tensed, feeling worried suddenly about how this was going to end.

Len knew that he had feelings for Barry Allen, he might even go as far as to say love, but that was just another secret that he had never told anyone about. And so he pushed his face back into the familiar blank mask as he watched the video footage, hoping that Lisa wouldn't notice. But then the Pied Piper showed up on the scene and the Not-Captain-Cold was dealt with fairly quickly.

"That wasn't me," Len stated as he handed the phone back to his sister.

"So, what? Someone's walking around _pretending_ to be you?" Lisa asked and Len shrugged as he returned back to his stove. "And you're not concerned about this?"

"What's there to be concerned about?"

"Well… he could ruin your reputation," Lisa muttered. "And let's not forget about all the crimes he could be adding onto your already-substantial rap sheet." Hmm, that one was a good point. If Len wanted to try to lead a different life this time around, then he didn't exactly want to keep being brought into the precinct for questioning.

"You're right. The impersonator has got to go," Len nodded. "I'll deal with it," he said, purposefully insinuating that he'd kill the man even though that was the last thing that Len really felt like doing.

"Want some help?" Lisa asked and Len shook his head.

"Not right now but I'll keep you informed," he muttered and passed his omelette to his sister before making a second one for himself. Once breakfast was done, Len strapped his cold gun to his thigh and slipped onto his bike, making his way over to STAR Labs. He picked the lock quickly and made his way into the labs without invitation: old habits die hard, it seemed. When he got to the cortex he froze in the entrance and stared into the room. Cisco was sitting in front of the computers with his back to Len, as usual, as Barry hovered around in front of the engineer. Except, right now Barry currently had dark blond hair and was dressed in a blue parka with a version of the cold gun attached to his thigh.

The younger man looked over at Len in the doorway and his big eyes went wide. Len raised an eyebrow in question and tried not to laugh at the image of the _Flash_ dressed as a supervillain.

"Are you mocking me, Barry?" He drawled and Cisco spun around on his chair instantly to face Len, his eyes just as wide as Barry's were.

"Uh, _Flash_! Snart's here to see you," Cisco half-shouted into the microphone at the desk he was sitting at. Len barely had a chance to frown at the engineer before he was suddenly being whisked away. The world was a blur for all of a second before Len's surroundings came into focus again: he was still standing in STAR Labs, but he was no longer in the cortex. Barry was in front of him and Len frowned as his eyes took in the Flash suit he was now wearing, the cowl covering his face.

"What's going on?" Len chose to ask as nothing was making sense right now.

"Okay, so I suppose you're here because you saw one of the videos of me fighting Commander Cold?" Barry asked.

" _Commander_ Cold?"

"Yep."

"As in, the guy I saw in the cortex who looks just like you?"

"That'd be the one. Except, I don't think he looks _just_ like me…" Barry muttered and Len shook his head. The blond hair was obviously different but, other than that…

"He's the spitting image, Barry."

"Okay. Well… all you need to know is that we've got things covered," Barry finished.

"No… I think I'm going to need a little more information than that, Scarlet" Len drawled and Barry just stared at him for a moment before laughing nervously and rubbing at the base of his neck through his Flash suit.

"Okay… well, this is going to sound pretty insane…"

"I died and came back to life," Len reminded him. "I think we're already far past ' _insane_.'"

"He's my son from twenty-four years into the future," Barry eventually blurted out and Len nodded as he tried to process that.

"And he was fighting you because…?"

"He doesn't know who I am and he thought that the Flash had killed one of his friends," Barry elaborated. "And now we're helping him to find the guy who _really_ killed her. But, like I said, it's completely under control so you really don't have to stick around…"

"I'm _hurt_. You don't want me spending time with your son, Barry? Think I'll be a bad influence on him?" Len drawled. "Well, unfortunately for you, I'm staying."

"What? Why?" Barry questioned, his mouth set into a frown. And Len… well, Len didn't really know _why_ he wanted to stay. He was bored and this seemed like a good way to have a bit of fun without actually having to commit a crime… but it was more than just that. The situation was intriguing and he wanted to see it through.

"I have a reputation to protect," Len lied. "If there's someone masquerading around looking like Captain Cold, then I have to keep an eye on them."

"He… He looks nothing like Captain Cold," Barry denied, his voice going a little bit high pitched… he really was a terrible liar and Len had to wonder how more people didn't know his secret identity by this point. "Didn't you see the badge? And his parka is at least three shades lighter than yours."

" _Barry_ ," Len muttered, getting impatient and Barry's shoulders drooped.

"Fine," he sighed, accepting that this was inevitable. "But, like I said, he doesn't know I'm his dad and I'd like it to stay that way," Barry insisted.

"You're already lying to your kids and they haven't even been _born_ yet, Barry?" Len drawled. "That's cold."

"Snart!"

"Okay. I'll keep your… little secret," he said with a waggle of his fingers and Barry swallowed thickly before nodding and turning around to lead them back to the cortex. Caitlin had now joined Cisco and Barry's son in the room and all three of them stared at Snart when he appeared.

"Erm… guess who volunteered to help?" Barry announced as they entered the room, his voice sounding nervous and a little unsure.

"What? _Why_? What are you planning, Cold?" Cisco accused and Len smirked.

"Don't be so _frosty_ , Cisco," he drawled. "You know me: I'm always happy to assist the team."

"B- Flash," _real smooth, Cisco_ , "can we talk to you for a second?" he asked quickly and Barry followed him and Caitlin into the conjoining room, leaving Len alone with his son. Len looked at the three members of 'Team Flash' through the glass wall: Cisco did _not_ seem happy about the arrangement and Len wondered what Barry would decide on. Well, if the kid decided that Len working with them just wasn't worth this hassle after all, then this was Len's only chance to meet the Flash's son.

The thought of Barry getting married to a nice young girl and having time-travelling children made Len's chest feel tight. But he was too curious for his own good. His unconventional crush on the speedster made it difficult, but Len just put on a smirk and didn't let his uneasiness show.

"So, you're Barry's son, huh?" He drawled, leaning sideways against the wall, and the kid balked. "Who does he get with, in the end?" Len couldn't help but ask.

"The Flash told you who I was?" The boy muttered and avoided Len's gaze instead of answering the question. And now that Len was looking, he noticed that the kid had bright blue eyes instead of Barry's warm green. "He shouldn't have done that." Interesting. Was this kid afraid of Len? Or maybe afraid was too strong a term… uncomfortable and wary seemed a better fit. Len supposed he shouldn't be surprised; he was a known villain after all. And at least Barry's kid seemed to have some self-preservation instincts even if _Barry_ doesn't. Maybe he could teach his old man a thing or two while he was here?

"I'd like to think I'm smart enough to put it together without his help," Len drawled.

"… Do I really look that much like him?" The kid asked after a short pause.

"Give you some hair dye and colour contacts and you'd pass as identical twins," Len admitted. It wasn't 100% true: he was taller than Barry and his nose was a little bit smaller. He had broader shoulders too. But, the similarities were uncanny. "What's your name, Kid?"

"Commander Cold," he answered instantly and Len rolled his eyes.

"I got that. I meant your real name." The boy looked hesitant and Len rolled his eyes. "Come on, Kid. What damage am I really going to do with the name of a guy who won't even be born for another… what? Three or four years?" He pointed out.

"I… Michael," he eventually admitted and Len nodded. Team Flash joined them in the cortex again then. Cisco didn't look too happy but he sat down at the computers without another word.

"Okay, Snart, so we already know who we're looking for…" Barry announced and filled Len in on everything that they'd found out so far. "But, we're having a few difficulties finding the Top," Barry admitted, "the only image we have of him only shows half of his face, and so facial recognition isn't picking him up."

"Show me the picture," Len muttered and Cisco brought up the image. "Wow, he looks nothing like Rosie," Len muttered to no one in particular as he used his phone to take a picture of the image on screen.

"What are you doing?" Caitlin asked and Len shrugged.

"You have your way of finding people, I have mine," he said unhelpfully and texted the picture to his sister.

To: **Lisa  
** Sent: **9:15am**  
**[Image sent]  
****Hey, sis. Turns out I need your help, after all. Show this around Saints for me?**

It didn't take long before she had the location of that the hotel the guy was crashing at. Len passed the information onto Barry and within the hour himself, Barry, and Michael were setting a trap for the Top of 2040.

Len hung back just outside of the Top's sight, the ace in their pocket. He was sure that the combined efforts of the Flash and Commander Cold, father and son, would be enough to bring down one metahuman… but he was there to back them up, just in case.

"Why did you kill her?" He heard Michael ask the Top once he'd drawn him outside of the motel.

"I didn't want to. But she just didn't understand my mission. I _have_ to save my parents and this is the only way!"

"What are you talking about?" Barry asked and the Top growled at him, explaining how the Flash was going to arrest the guy's parent's in a few weeks which would lead to him being raised in foster homes. Len sighed and tuned out the conversation as Commander Cold and the Flash attempted to reason with the Top.

But the guy kept insisting that the only way to save his parents from prison was to kill the Flash. And then suddenly the man was spinning around at an insane speed. Len tensed and watched as Barry charged him and was thrown across the street for his effort. He landed on his feet, though. Commander Cold shot at him with the cold gun, but he was also knocked to the ground. He appeared to be fine but his goggles, which Michael had announced would be able to protect him against Top's vertigo-inducing abilities, were knocked from his head.

Michael aimed his cold gun but he was suddenly swaying and stumbling. Len charged his own gun, sure that he was going to be needed after all… he just had to wait for the perfect moment to interfere. Top's spinning, however, seemed to be creating a tornado and Len watched with wide eyes as Barry was picked up by the building storm. This was very bad. Len knew that he would be detected instantly but it didn't matter in that moment.

He stepped out of his hiding spot and fired his gun at the Top. It was stupid, he _knew_ it was, but he couldn't help himself from saving Barry now any more than he could back at Ferris Air. He knew that it was senseless to be in love with the Flash and that it was probably just going to end up getting him killed… _again_. But a world without a Barry Allen wasn't a world he'd want to live in.

The first blast of his gun hit the Top square on. And maybe if Barry had allowed Len to have it on its highest setting instead of its lowest, it would have ended this right then. But, instead, the blast made the Top stop spinning and fall to the floor but he was otherwise unharmed. He threw something in Len's direction and Len was already running out of the way to dodge it before his brain was even able to recognise the object as a miniature bomb.

When it exploded, Len was just far enough away to not get burned but he was still close enough to get knocked flying by it. He knocked his head as he fell, _just_ hearing Michael shouting over the ringing in his ears before he fell unconscious.

[] [] []

" _Dad_!" Michael screamed and Barry froze as the small explosion sent Snart flying. The Top was injured from Snart's cold gun and so he was momentarily distracted as he attempted to pull himself to his feet. This gave Barry enough time to slip into the superspeed and, using all of his strength, knock out their attacker.

He was back to normal speed again in time to hear Cisco say "wait, did Michael just call Leonard Snart his _Dad_?"

Barry watched Michael run over to Snart's unconscious body, appearing worried, and Barry tried to think up another explanation for the outburst… but he came up blank. Barry, slowly, approached Snart's side. The older Cold was only unconscious for a few more seconds: which was good because it meant there was less chance that he would have a concussion. Barry helped Michael to pull Snart up into a sitting position as Cisco continued talking in his ear.

"But there's no way that's right… he looks _exactly_ like you, Barry. And he _said_ that his last name was Allen."

"Unless they're _both_ his Dad's," Barry heard Caitlin mutter and his eyes went wide.

" _What_?" He asked into the comms, sure that he must have heard her wrong. But before she could reply the conversation in front of him took Barry's attention.

"You called me your Dad?" Snart questioned and Michael looked scared again. But then, slowly, he nodded. "But you're also _Barry's_ son… right?"

"… Right," Michael muttered after only a brief pause. Everyone was completely silent for a moment as they took that in, then Snart's eyes flicked from Michael's to Barry's and at that exact second Caitlin started laughing in his ear. Barry flinched at the sound.

"I knew it. I knew you had a thing for Leonard Snart. Iris owes me ten bucks!" She declared and Barry gaped.

"Caitlin, you had a _bet_ on this? For how long?"

"I… don't think the details are very important right this second…" she muttered and Barry, reluctantly, agreed. He quickly ran Snart, Michael, and the Top back to STAR Labs. They put the Top into one of the cells, ready for Michael to take him back to 2040, whereas Snart went right to the med room they had set up.

"I bumped my head, I'll be fine," Snart muttered once he realised that Barry had deposited onto a hospital-esk bed. He started to get up but then Caitlin was standing in his way and glaring at him.

"You're going to lie down and let me check to see if you have a concussion," she ordered and Snart frowned at her for a moment before obeying.

"Didn't know you cared, Doctor Snow," Snart drawled and she shrugged.

"Barry's one of my best friends. I can't exactly let his future husband fall ill now, can I?"

"I suppose not," Snart responded and Barry could feel his entire body radiating heat, sure that his skin was currently the same shade of red as his suit. How were Caitlin and Snart so calm about this? Cait took out a small light and shined it in Snart's eye to test the reflexes of his pupil. As she did this she asked him several questions.

"Can you repeat the months of the year in reverse order?" She questioned and Snart sighed before doing what she asked. She nodded and told him to sit up before holding two fingers out in front of him. "Touch my fingers and then your nose five times as quickly as possible," she ordered.

"Please tell me how this is testing my state of mind," he muttered as he did what he was told.

"It's not. I just enjoy making you look stupid," Caitlin said with a grin and Snart glared at her so she rolled her eyes. "It's to test your balance and coordination," she admitted and lowered her fingers. "But you seem fine. If you start experiencing any symptoms like dizziness, nausea, or confusion then you should let me know. But I don't think you have a concussion," she said, moving back to allow Snart to stand up. Snart's eyes flicked to Barry before landing on Michael. Barry also turned to look at their future son once he realised that he'd just been nervously staring at Snart for the past several minutes.

"So," Snart started. "Does Lisa ever actually learn to cook or does she just live off of instant noodles forever?" He questioned, breaking the tension in the room, and Michael laughed. "I'll take that as a no."

"I… I should go," Michael muttered. "I've already let too much about the future slip. Just… don't tell Dad about this. I don't want to accidentally cause a rift in the timeline." Snart's eyes flicked to Barry's before he answered.

" _I_ won't tell him anything," Snart promised and Michael relaxed a little, completely unaware that his other father was in the room with him as well. Barry held Snart's gaze for a moment before he looked down at his shoes. He felt like he was in shock: this was insane. How could Leonard Snart _really_ be Barry's future husband? And how come everyone else was just going along with it as though they'd suspected it all along?

Sure, Leonard was attractive ( _unfairly_ so) … and Barry did have feelings for him. They were jumbled and confusing, but they were real. But there was a huge difference between crushing on a supervillain and _marrying_ one!

"I'm going to go prepare to take the Top back to 2040," Michael said. He hesitated for a moment before finally turning around and leaving the room. The moment he disappeared through the door, Cait started moving that way too.

"I think I better go check the software on our computers is up to date," Caitlin excused herself. "We don't want a glitch in the system when you need our help now, do we? Cisco, how about you come help?"

"What're you talking about? We updated a couple of days ago."

" _Cisco_."

"What? Oh… _oh_ yeah, you're right. I, uh, yeah," Cisco muttered as he finally understood Caitlin's blatant attempt to leave Barry and Snart alone. He smiled apologetically and followed after Caitlin quickly.

"Well, that was subtle," Cold remarked and Barry huffed a small laugh. But then he looked from the door, that everyone had just exited through, to Snart and his stomach started to feel like it was in knots.

"You know, I think Michael might need some help," Barry muttered as he attempted to put off this particular conversation for a little longer. He needed time to process.

"Barry… no matter how transparent they are about it; your friends are right. We should talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about," Barry lied.

"Really, Scarlet? Because I think the fact that we just met our future son is a pretty important topic. But, hey, that's just me."

"Okay, yes. Obviously there is _eventually_ stuff to talk about. But, we're not even supposed to know about this and so, really, there is nothing to talk about," Barry reasoned and Snart just frowned at him.

"So you just want to ignore this and hope it goes away?" He asked, his face was set in that carefully blank mask, and Barry shook his head as he took a seat on the foot of the bed.

"Not… not hope it goes away," Barry admitted. He liked Michael: he'd only just met the guy a day ago but he already felt something akin to love for the man who would one day be his son. And Snart was beautiful and funny and he _was_ a good guy… deep down where he rarely let anyone see. "But I just found out that I'm going to marry Captain Cold. You have to give me a minute to process this. I mean, you just found out you're going to marry the Flash. How are you not freaking out with me? A superhero and a supervillain? That's…" _insane, foolish, ridiculous_? Barry didn't quite have the right word to describe it.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've not stolen anything since I came back from the Waverider," Snart admitted, choosing to lean back against the wall opposite where Barry was sitting and looking at him with those calculating blue eyes.

"You haven't?" Snart shook his head instead of verbalising his answer. "Why?"

"Haven't felt like it," Cold answered with a shrug but Barry could tell that there was more to it than that.

"You're not supposed to keep secrets from your husband," he muttered and Snart smirked.

"I'll try to remember that, Barry," Snart drawled before he quickly turned his head to look away, his face falling blank once more. Barry followed his gaze to see Michael was now standing in the doorway.

Barry stood up suddenly and started at his future son.

"You're…" Michael muttered and shook his head. "No. You, you _can't_ be Barry Allen. Because my dad would have _told me_ if he was the Flash!" He continued in a state between shock and anger. Barry looked into Michael's eyes, which he now realised were the exact same shade of blue as Snart's… how was that even possible? And then he dipped his head, slowly pulling the cowl off to show Michael his face. The room was silent for a _long_ moment before Barry started talking.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why we don't tell you who I am… I have to assume there's a reason for it but right now I don't know what that reason is." Michael looked betrayed and that stung deeper than it had any right to coming from someone who he'd known for barely 24 hours.

"I can't believe that _neither_ of you thought that this was important information!" Michael exclaimed and Snart shrugged when the younger man's eyes landed on him.

"Sorry, Kid, we don't have a good explanation," Cold said and Michael sighed.

"Well, you've got twenty-four years to come up with one," he muttered sharply. "It better be good." He said just as Cisco and Caitlin appeared behind him.

"Oh… I guess you found out about Barry…" Cisco muttered, only adding to the tension in the room.

"We knocked out the Top again and so he's ready to be taken back to the future," Caitlin said, when no one made to speak again, and Michael nodded at her before turning around and heading back down to the cells. Barry and the others were all quick to follow after him. As they watched Michael reattach his comms unit and open up the Top's cell, Barry had a distinct urge to hug him goodbye.

"I guess we'll all see you in a few years," Cisco said and that just made Barry's chest ache more.

"I can't believe we're saying goodbye to Barry and Snart's future son," Caitlin muttered and _finally_! Someone else was showing some sort of realisation about how odd this situation was.

"And I can't believe Barry let me name him after Mick," Snart said in reply and Barry turned to face him with wide eyes, shocked at the realisation. For a moment the room was silent, and then Cisco burst out laughing as though it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"Dude! You named your son after _Heatwave_!" He exclaimed and Barry buried his head in his hands for a moment, hearing Caitlin eventually give up and join in with Cisco's laughter. When the noise died down a little, Michael raised his hand to the comms in his ear.

"Precinct one, I have the suspect in custody. Preparing for time jump," he spoke clearly into the headset and then turned to look at Barry and Snart. He quickly walked over to them and pulled them both into a hug which Barry just melted into, hugging his son back tightly. "You guys are so weird young," he whispered and Barry laughed.

He wondered just how different himself and Snart were 24 years into the future, parenthood would have probably changed them both a lot, he supposed. When Michael was pulling back from the hug it felt all too sudden but Barry let him go.

"And I'm serious: twenty-four years. You better have a good explanation…"

"We'll see you soon," Snart murmured and Barry nodded along with him, not quite trusting his voice right then as he felt a lump forming in his throat. Michael took a step back and put a device onto the Top's wrist before putting a similar one on his own. He said goodbye to them and then pressed a button the device. There was a bright light followed by a loud static noise and then Michael and the Top were gone.

Barry took a deep, shaky, breath as he stared at the spot where his son had disappeared and no one really moved.

"You're right," Barry muttered to Snart when he felt like he could speak again. He didn't stop looking at the now-empty space in the room though. "We should talk about this."

"Do you like Italian?" Snart asked after a moment and Barry could feel the weight of his gaze on him. "I heard there's a nice new Italian restaurant a couple of blocks from here."

"Snart… are you trying to turn this into a date?" He asked, finally turning around and making eye contact with the criminal-turned-hero-turned… whatever he was now…

"Barry, I think we're well past the last name basis. Call me Len. And, yes, I am. I like you… recent evidence suggests that you like me too. And I don't see the point in denying that." Barry thought that over for a second before nodding.

"I like Italian… _Len_."

_**Year 2025** _

Len stirred the pot on the stove and checked the time. The schools closed about fifteen minutes ago, meaning that Barry would be home with the kids any moment now. Dinner was done and so he turned the gas off and started setting out the plates.

"Daddy!" Came Sophie's happy squeal only a second after Len heard the front door open. He grinned as he turned around and saw his daughter running towards him with her arms open wide and her brown curls bouncing. Len bent down and picked her up, hugging her tightly. She was getting so big now, nearly six years old, but it seemed like only yesterday that he'd held her for the first time.

Len remembered the strange mixture of love and terror that he'd felt in that moment. He and Barry had been so terrified when they found out that Lisa, their surrogate and egg donor, was pregnant with a girl. They'd been expecting a boy and so having Sophie first made them worried that they'd somehow changed the timeline. But then Michael was born a year and a half later, finally calming their fears.

"We learnt about superheroes at school today!" Sophie exclaimed as Barry and Michael came into the room. Len grinned at his son and kissed Barry on the cheek.

"You did?" He asked as he placed Sophie in a chair and started to go about plating dinner.

"Yep. And I got to tell my _whole class_ that my Daddy was Captain Cold!"

"The best superhero of them all," Barry nodded along, taking a seat with his children at the table and helping Michael to untie his shoe laces.

"Daddy was a hero?" Michael asked with wonder in his eyes and Sophie nodded her head vigorously. Len wondered how he'd gotten to this point: how he'd gone from nothing more than a dangerous criminal to a superhero with a perfect husband and children that he loved more than anything. But Len didn't have to think about it too hard because the answer was right in front of him untying Michael's shoes: Barry.

Barry's attitude towards life was infectious. He was the first person to ever really believe that there was good inside Len and his constant insisting that Len didn't have to let his past define him… well, it had eventually worn the older man down. And now Len couldn't be happier.

"Yep!" Sophie answered her little brother. "He had a gun that could shoot ice at bad guys!"

" _Whoa_ ," Michael mumbled and Len put his family's dinners in front of them before sitting down with his own plate of food.

"Miss Rachel said that you weren't always a hero, though," Sophie muttered and Len nodded. He and Barry had already discussed what they would say to their kids about this subject and so he answered confidently.

"Miss Rachel is right. I used to be a very bad person."

"What changed?" Sophie asked and Len smiled.

"I met your dad." When he looked across the table he could see Barry grinning at him. "And he melted my heart."

"Ewwww," Michael muttered and Len laughed.

"And then you started working with the Flash, right?" Sophie asked and Len nodded.

"Right."

"But you're not a s'perhero now?" Michael asked and Sophie answered for Len.

"Nope. He quit so he could have us!" She said and Len nodded. Being a _known_ hero with kids was just too much of a risk, he and Barry had both agreed that it would be better for him to quit so that he wasn't putting their little girl in danger. "And then the Flash disappeared too. Miss Rachel says he's in heaven. What happened to him, Daddy?" Len looked between his children's rapt faces.

"Okay. I'll tell you. But it's a secret so you have to promise not to tell _anyone_ ," Len whispered and watched the excitement grow on their faces. He knew that they weren't likely to keep it a secret, but that was okay. "The Flash… is still in Central City," he said quietly and his eyes flicked to Barry's smiling face. "He just lost his powers so he had to quit too."

"Really?"

" _Really_. Now, enough questions. Your dinner is going to get cold." His children sighed as though they could have kept going forever, but then they both picked up their forks and started eating. Len thought about that day as they ate: it was just over a year ago and during the Crisis. Barry's powers had been drained by a metahuman and Len clearly remembered watching his husband getting beaten to a pulp of live TV, having to act calm around their children so that they wouldn't be scared. He'd called Lisa to look after Sophie and Michael as he'd raced to STAR Labs to once again, for the first time in nearly five years, put on his Captain Cold gear.

But by the time he'd gotten there, Cisco and Caitlin had already rescued his husband and so Len found Barry beaten and bloodied in the hospital room of STAR Labs. _'You are not going out there again, Barry Allen. I am_ not _losing you_ ' Len had insisted as he'd dropped into the nearby chair and held Barry's hand. Barry had put on a fake smile and pretended that he wasn't in any pain. But when it came down to it, and Barry had to choose whether or not he wanted to get his speed force back, Barry had chosen to stay powerless.

It wasn't a spur of the moment decision; they'd been discussing the possibility of Barry giving up being a superhero ever since Len had quit. But Barry had just felt too responsible for saving the city to let the mantel pass down to the newer superheroes who had surfaced. However, faced with the very real chance that Sophie and Michael could end up growing up without one of their parents… Barry had realised that it was the right thing to do. He had found the change _very_ difficult at first, but eventually they settled in to have a normal life and grow old together.

Once dinner was finished and the kids were sitting in front of the TV in the living room watching reruns of SpongeBob, Len and Barry moved back into the kitchen to wash the dishes. As Len soaked the pot he'd used to make dinner he turned to Barry and smiled softly.

"Are you _sure_ you don't want to tell them you were the Flash?" He asked quietly and Barry shook his head.

"It's too dangerous," he whispered back. "If Michael knows who I was then he'll never go back in time to arrest me and we may never actually get past our reserves and admit we like each other," Barry pointed out and Len nodded. He didn't like lying to his kids but he understood why they needed to do it.

" _Fine_. But when they find out and get angry that we never told them, I'm sending them your way," Len muttered and Barry laughed.

"Deal," he agreed, sealing it with a kiss.

_**Year 2040** _

Len was reading a book on his kindle when Michael burst through the front door, looking angry. Len looked up at his son and knew instantly what today was before the boy could even open his mouth.

"Dad was _the Flash_ and you never told me?" Michael muttered angrily and Len looked at him for a minute and then sighed, going back to his kindle book.

" _Barry_!" He hollered up to his husband. "You're up!"

**Author's Note:**

> And coldflash week 2016 is now complete (which makes me a little sad, tbh). I hope this fic was an okay end to the week. Let me know your thoughts in the comments? :)


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